We're Family
by The Art Wizard
Summary: This is a Christmas Present to Matthais Unidostres. It is a tribute to his stories "Family of Four" and "Because, she said, I love you". Starring Lucario, Zoroark, Riolu and Zorua.


We're Family

Riolu was sitting all alone in a tall tree, tears gently trickling down his face. He sniffled a little and wiped away the little river of salty water. He grabs his little figurine around his neck, his most prized possession. This only made him cry even more, bringing the figurine to his face. "They're right…" he sobbed, "They're all right! Even he wasn't my real family!"

"Riolu!"

The young Pokémon slowly turned his attention to the sound of his name being called. He saw below him on the ground was his adoptive father, along with the rest of his adoptive family. He turns back around, not letting them know he's up there. That proved to be futile as his adoptive father was a Lucario, and of course he can, and did, use his aura senses to track him down.

Lucario looked up, "Riolu, come down from there." No response. "Riolu. Come down here _now_." His voice becoming sterner.

This resulted in an unexpected shout from Riolu, "You can't tell me what to do! You're not my dad!"

"Riolu!" the sound of Riolu's adoptive mother, Zoroark, was made loud and clear. "You do NOT talk to him that way! Get down here this instant young Pokémon!"

Riolu didn't even react to her.

"Let me try talking to him." Asked a young voice. It was Riolu's adoptive younger brother, Zorua, who popped his little frame from out his mother's mane and onto the ground. "He always talks to me."

Zoroark smiled, "Very well. But we'll be right here to listen."

Zorua nodded and jumped up the tree and onto the branch Riolu was sitting on. At first, he used his illusions to turn into various creatures performing silly and ridiculous tricks, thinking it would cheer him up. It didn't work to put it lightly. This concerned Zorua. "Big brother," he said, "What's wrong?"

"Don't call me that!" Riolu spat out

Little Zorua tilted his head, "Why not?"

Riolu responded, "Because we aren't really brothers!"

"Now, what's making you say that‽" Asked the confused and rather annoyed Zorua.

Riolu took another look at the figurine around his neck. He sighs then he turns his full attention to Zorua:

"It started a while ago, I was talking to some other Pokémon in the woods and they noticed my little wooden figure of me around my neck. They asked about it and I told them about that old man who used to take care of me and the time Lucario took me in."

Zorua cocked a brow at Riolu calling their father by his name.

Riolu continued, "After hearing what I said, they started making fun of me: saying that I have no real family. I got upset and ran away in this tree to cry."

"That's silly of them." Said Zorua, "Of course you have a real family!"

Riolu bit back, "No I don't! They're right! I never knew my real parents; the old man raised me until he-" he stopped here, gulped and continued, "Well, you know. But he wasn't my real dad. Then Lucario took me in and we found you and Zoroark. I never knew my real mom and dad!"

Riolu began to cry again as his little adopted brother cuddled against him, "It's okay, big brother. I know how you feel."

"Oh, yeah‽" Riolu skeptically asked, "How could you possibly know how I feel? You have your mom!"

Zorua answered, "Riolu, _I_ was adopted too."

Riolu paused a moment as if he had to register what Zorua said. Then he responded, "Yeah right!"

"No really!" Zorua stated, "Meema adopted me when I was still an egg!"

Riolu stared at him and read his face like he was checking for lies: he didn't find any.

Zorua moved on with his explanation, "When I was still an egg, Meema and her mate at the time had found me. They found that I was all alone; they couldn't even smell my original parents anywhere. So, they decided to take me in and raise me.

"I later hatched to them and, out of instinct, I imprinted on Meema; her then mate pasted on not long before. As I grew up, Meema came clean with me, telling me about how she found me as an egg and that my other parents were nowhere. At first, I didn't believe her, thinking it was a joke. But she assured me she was telling the truth.

"I got upset when I finally understood. I felt like running away, and I did! I tried searching for my real parents, but Meema tracked me down and stopped me. I yelled at her, I told her she wasn't my **real** meema. But you know what she said? She said, 'Zorua, I may not be your mother by birth, but I'm still your mother.'

"At first, I didn't listen to her. She then pulled me into a hug. She then said, 'We may not be family by blood, Zorua, but we are still family. No matter what the whole wide world may think or say about us, I'll always be your mother and you'll always be my son.'

"I soon felt terrible about how I acted to her and I apologized. She forgave me of course. But you know what? We became closer to each other after that." Zorua finished as he saw that all too familiar look of confusion that Riolu had made himself known for.

"Wow, Zorua." He finally said, "I—I had no idea."

Zorua jumped to Riolu and hugged him, "It's okay, big brother. I know what it's like. But you do have a real family. We **both** do! And we love you very, very much."

Riolu smiled, "Funny. Usually _I'm_ the one with the answers and _you're_ the one learning something."

"Well, I do get it from _somebody_!" Zorua joked as the boys laughed about.

"You're right, little brother." Riolu said, feeling great to call him brother again, "I do have a family!"

"You feeling better, son?"

Riolu and Zorua looked down to see that Lucario and Zoroark were still there. Riolu then jumped down from the tree along with Zorua and into Lucrio and Zoroark's loving arms. "Yeah, Dad." Answered Riolu, "I'm all better."

Lucario hugged him, "Good to know."

Zoroark then moves closer to the two of them, and playfully eskimo-kissed Riolu. "Just know that I'm proud to call you my son just as much as I call Zorua mine as well."

"Yes, Mom." Riolu grinned.

* * *

Later that very night, it was time for the family to retire for the evening. The small family took turns saying 'good night' to each other:

"Good night, Meema."

"Good night, Zorua."

Zoroark gently kisses Zorua's cheek.

"Good night, Dad."

"Good night, Riolu."

Lucario does the same thing to Riolu.

Then the boys ran over to the other parent.

"Good night, Mom."

"Good night, Riolu."

"Good night, Peepa*."

"Good night, Zorua."

They exchange kisses one more time until the two children walked to each other.

"Good night, big brother."

"Good night, little brother."

Riolu then ruffles the tuff of hair atop Zorua's head, producing a giggle from the little fox Pokémon. They then returned to their respected sleeping spots, with Riolu laying behind Lucario's back and Zorua in Zoroark's mane.

"Oh, boys."

The two hopped back up at the sound of their mother's voice. She addressed, "Aren't you forgetting something? Or should I say some _one_?"

She moved her paw to get their attention and led it to a small egg that lay between her and Lucario. The boys giggled a bit, remembering the egg and walked up to it.

"Good night, baby brother or sister." Said Zorua, "Can't wait for you to hatch." He then kissed the shell of the egg.

"Good night, little Riolu or Zorua." Riolu said, "Hope you hatch soon." He too kissed the egg's shell and the two of them moved back to their spots and closed their eyes.

Both Lucario and Zoroark laid on the den floor, staring and smiling at each other. Lucario then broke the silence and softly whispered, "You know, Zoroark, when we first met, you never told me that Zorua was adopted."

Zoroark blushed, "Well, it's kind of an awkward thing to talk about: A Zoroark like me having a mate but never really…well, you know. Besides, he needed me."

Lucario nodded, "True. And another thing, how come you and your first mate never…I mean, if you don't mind me asking-"

"We wanted to wait awhile." Zoroark interrupted him with her explanation, "He and I were planning on doing…that, whenever we felt really. We later found Zorua and took him in. And it wasn't long after we talked about giving it a try, he…he…" She started to frown, her eyes watering from all the memories she shared with her first love. She felt a small kiss on the end of her snout.

"There there." Lucario said, "It's okay that you miss him. I completely understand what it feels like to have someone close to you be gone." He then smiles, "But remember, his aura is with you." This made Zoroark's frown melt away into the beautiful smile he fell in love with. "And know this too: Even if the two of you _did_ do-that, it doesn't change my own love for you."

Zoroark was so happy with Lucario that, in the spare of the moment, she nuzzled up against him, "And if he could still talk to me," she said, "he would tell me how happy he is to see that I found someone else who loves me just as much as he did."

They laid there a while longer before they finally turned their attention to their little egg and gently kissed it.

"Good night, our new child. Your mother and I love you with all our hearts."

"Good night, our little baby. You are a wonderful addition to our family."

The parents nuzzled close to each other again, said their prayers and unknowingly slipped away into the world of dreams.

* * *

 **Seasons Greetings, Everyone! As you can tell by the description, someone's been a real good boy this year. So, like the Santa's little helper I am, I gave Matthias this cute little fanfic for Christmas. If any of you know, I made a gift for Matthais once, so for Christmas I decided to do it again, this time it's based on his fanfiction's "Family of Four" and "Because, She said, I love you". And again, this isn't me stealing from him or anything; all this is is a gift/tribute to his stories.**

 **And Matthais, if you're reading this, I just want to say a few things: Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy your gift. And as for the Egg in my story, I'm giving you the option to do whatever you want to do with it. You can use it in your own fanfics or not; it's your chose. And by the way, I have no suggestions on whether making it a boy or a girl, or even a Riolu or a Zorua. That'll be entirely your choice, again, if you accept it. You can choose to decline if you want; it won't hurt my feelings.**

 ***And you're probably wondering why Zorua called Lucario 'Peepa'. Well, I thought since he calls Zoroark 'Meema', he would call Lucario by a similar title. But, of course, that's just me.**

 **And with that, That was the story, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, I hope Matthais likes this gift and God bless us all. Everyone!**


End file.
